HORTICULTURE. 659 



ties at the station are recorded. Tlie author states that many tomato growers do not 

 secure their first ripe fruits in the forcing house until 90 or 100 days after benching, 

 wlien only about half this time is necessary. In one of the experiments seed of 

 Combination and Yellow Prince varieties were sown in moderately rich soil Octo- 

 ber 23. They were potted in 25-in. pots in a fibrous potting soil as soon as large 

 enough, and shifted to SJ-in. pots about December 1. January 9 they were benched. 

 At tills time they were all showing open blossoms and were very much pot-bound. 

 "The open blossoms set fruit and the plants continued to blossom at every third or 

 fourth joint. Unchecked plants come into bearing later, as it takes time to fill the 

 soil with roots and thereby check the excessive growth. On such plants the first 

 fruit appears high up on the plant when it should be near the ground with a continu- 

 ous succession of clusters up the stem." 



The bench soil used was made of one-half ric-h garden loam and one-half well rotted 

 compost. It was light in texture and fertile. Wood ashes at the rate of 20 lbs. per 

 100 S(i. ft. were apitlied twice after the plants were in full bearing. The soil in the 

 bench was 6 in. deep. The plants were set 2 ft. apart in rows 18 to 20 in. apart. The 

 temperature of the forcing house varied from 70° F. at night to 75 to 80° on cloudy 

 days and as high as 90° on sunny days. The plants were trained to single stems, 

 using binder twine as a support. The leaders were pinched when the plants on the 

 side benches had reached a height of 5 ft. and those in the center benches 8 ft. 

 Shoots pushing out from fruit clusters, as is common in rapidly growing plants, 

 were promjitly removed. Hand pollination was practiced every other day when 

 the jtollen could be secured. 



The first ripe fruits from Yellow Prince were secured February 25, or 47 days after 

 benching, and from Combination February 28, or 50 days after benching. The aver- 

 age yield of Yellow Prince to June 11 was 2.85 lbs. per plant. There were about 1(5 

 fruits per plant, and they averaged in size 2.84 oz. The fruit of this variety was very 

 uneven in size. There was no marked demand for the yellow sorts, and it is con- 

 sidered doubtful whether they are worth growing except a few plants for the sake of 

 varietj'. 



With the red variety Combination the yield on a north l)ench during the months 

 March, April, and May averaged 4 lbs. per plant, or 17J oz. per square foot of bench 

 space. There were on an average I65 fruits per plant, averaging 4.07 oz. in weight 

 each. On a center bench set with this variety the yields during the months Febru- 

 ary to June averaged 8 lbs. jier plant, or 2.4 lbs. per square foot of bench space. 

 There was an average of 31 fruits per plant, weighing 4.1 oz. each. 



Some of the j^lants in the above experiments received bottom heat, but tlie author 

 states that the average size of the fruits and the yield were no greater with bottom 

 heat than without it. During March the average weight of the fruit of Combination 

 was 02 oz., Init with the increase in sunshine the average weight per fruit rose to 

 over 4 oz. 



During the winter of 1902 a test was made of 4 of the leading forcing varieties to 

 ascertain their relative adaptation to winter forcing. Plants were sown August 20 

 and benched Novend>er 7. The first ripe fruit was picked December 24 from each 

 of the varieties Combination, Lorillard, and Best of All. This was 47 days after 

 benching. Eclipse did not ripen fruit until December 28 or 51 days after benching. 

 Tlie average total yields per plant for the different varieties were as follows: Combi- 

 nation, 4 lbs. 6 oz.; Lorillard, 4 lbs. 10 oz.; Best of All, 5 lbs., and Eclipse, 5 lbs. 4oz. 

 Best of All was the earliest and best of the 4 varieties as regards yield during the 

 short, dull days of December, January, and February. Eclipse gave the largest total 

 yield and produced the smoothest and most solid fruits. 



Some data are given which show that fruits failed to set during long periods of 

 cloudy weather because of tlie failure of the pollen to mature. This emphasizes the 

 necessity of hand pollination whenever the sun does shine. 



18909— No. 7—03 -i 



